342 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



spring-flowering bulbs, as sufficient has already been said about 

 them. 



Many people fail in forcing a few flowers, simply because they 

 employ too high a temperature, frequently ten or fifteen degrees 

 higher than the temperature which prevails out of doors when the 

 plants bloom naturally. The result of this treatment is weakly 

 growth, and flowers so delicate as to be unable to withstand the 

 atmosphere of an ordinary conservatory. If the several subjects 

 named herein are well established in pots, so much the better, but 

 the larger proportion of them may be lifted at once and potted. 

 This operation should be done soon, to give the plants time to make 

 a few roots before beiDg placed in heat. It will not be prudent to 

 commence forcing too early unless there is a good range of forcing 

 pits to back up the cultivator's efforts. After the plants are potted, 

 it is a good plan to plunge the pots in a bed of coal-ashes, or decayed 

 leaves made up out of doors. Placing them in a pit is, however, to 

 be preferred, because the plants can then be protected from incle- 

 ment weather. If kept out of doors, they ought to have a month's 

 probation either in a cold pit or orchard-house, before they are 

 brought into the forcing-pit. 



The best results are obtained by partly plunging the pots in a 

 mild bottom-heat of about 60' for three or four weeks previous to 

 the exposure of the plants to top-heat. This can easily be done if 

 the pit or house is heated by hot water, because a bed of leaves or 

 tan will supply the bottom-heat, and the heat from the pipes can be 

 shut off until the buds begin to swell ; excepting, of course, in 

 frosty or very cold weather. In that case, the temperature should 

 not exceed 45° for the first three weeks, and after that time the 

 atmospheric warmth may be increased to 50°, and the plants sprinkled 

 overhead once or twice a day with tepid water. It is also important 

 to place them near the glass to keep the growth firm and short- 

 jointed. To economize the fire-heat as much as possible, cover the 

 glass with a mat or a little long litter. Unless the flowers are 

 wanted at an early date, the temperature should not exceed 55° 

 or 60°, as they last so much longer when expanded in a compara- 

 tively cool temperature. 



Plants which do not exceed two feet in height may be forced in 

 a ground vinery with very little trouble. In the first place excavate 

 a trench, two feet deep, in an open sunny part of the garden, and 

 fill with either tan or warm leaves, and place the vinery over it. 

 The latter must be elevated on bricks placed closed together, and a 

 little soil banked up against them to prevent the admission of cold 

 air. By attention to covering them up at night, and opening the 

 vinery only when the air is still and comparatively warm, very 

 satisfactory result3 may be obtained. The beginning or middle of 

 Februarj 7 will be quite soon enough to commence forcing with the 

 ground vineries. At all times use water a few degrees warmer than 

 the atmospheric temperature. It must not, however, be used too 

 hot, and the safest plan is to fill a can with water overnight and 

 partly plunge it in the fermenting materials. 



Nearly all the subjects that are here named may be had in 



